Earlimart took a casual approach to
Mentor Tormentor, an intricate album whose creation spanned the course of three years. Songs were written at an unhurried pace while the group toured in support of its previous record, made the switch to a different record label, and pursued individual solo projects. So perhaps it's strange that
Earlimart's follow-up,
Hymn and Her, arrives just one year after
Tormentor's 2007 release. It's the fastest turnaround of any
Earlimart album, suggesting either a burst of inspiration or a slapdash, all-too-fast approach to songwriting. Fortunately,
Hymn and Her features the same sun-baked slices of indie pop that made
Mentor Tormentor and
Treble & Tremble such appetizing fare. Bandmates
Aaron Espinoza and
Ariana Murray (now the group's only two members) haven't sacrificed quality for speed; they've simply shed their extra baggage, turning
Earlimart from a multi-membered musical collective into a fast-working duo. As before, the new album places a big emphasis on sonic texture, but
Espinoza also offers up some of his most straightforward pop melodies. Acoustic guitars chime over drum loops, keyboards bubble in the background, and harmonies thicken the melodies, yet
Hymn and Her still sounds intimate, as if the bandmates have discovered how to funnel their densely populated songs into warm, mellow washes of sound. It's ideal music for headphones, where the clever production can reveal all of its layers. At the same time, it's hard to imagine a setting in which the relaxed chug of "Teeth" and "For the Birds" wouldn't sound completely engaging. ~ Andrew Leahey